The Simpsons (animation)/Trivia

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  • S01
    • E01 Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
      • Trivia
    • E04 There's No Disgrace Like Home
    • E05 Bart the General
      • Trivia
  • S03
    • E01 Stark Raving Dad
  • S04
    • E04 Lisa the Beauty Queen
    • E05 Treehouse of Horror III
    • E11 Homer's Triple Bypass
    • E12 Marge vs. the Monorail
      • YMMV
  • S06
    • E05 Sideshow Bob Roberts
    • E14 Bart's Comet
      • YMMV
    • E18 A Star Is Burns
    • E19 Lisa's Wedding
  • S07
    • E04 Bart Sells His Soul
    • E21 22 Short Films About Springfield
  • S09
    • E08 Lisa the Skeptic
  • S11
    • E13 Saddlesore Galactica
  • S14
  • S15
    • E12 Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore
  • S21
    • E17 American History X-Cellent
    • E20 To Surveil With Love
      • YMMV
  • S22
    • E17 Love is a Many-Strangled Thing
  • S23
    • E6 The Book Job
  • S25
    • E14 The Winter of His Content
    • E17 Luca$
  • S26
    • E10 The Man Who Came to Be Dinner
  • Who Shot Mr. Burns
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• Adored by the Network: Perhaps a bit too much to the point where viewers, tired of the show's Seasonal Rot, actually want it to end.
• Creator Backlash: Matt Groening was so against "A Star is Burns" (The Critic Crossover) that he took his name off the episode. A disagreement with James L. Brooks over the episode also erupted, spilling out into public.
  • "The Principal and the Pauper" has been controversial among the staff. Showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, as well as writer Ken Keeler, continue to defend this episode, but they appear to be in the minority. Groening has denounced it as one of his least favorite episodes, while Harry Shearer condemned it for what it does to Skinner's character. Shearer also alleged that even years after the fact, the writing staff acts like the episode never happened. And of course, "Behind the Laughter" referred to this episode as "gimmicky and nonsensical."
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • In the intro, Maggie Simpson "scans" as $847.63 at the grocery store.
  • When Bart destroys Former President George Bush's memoirs in "Two Bad Neighbors", one small shred of paper briefly passes over the screen on which the words "V.P. Quale" and "embarrassment" are clearly legible.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Kelsey Grammer.
  • Frank Welker voiced Santa's Little Helper, Snowball, most of the animals and several humans from 1990-2002, at which point he left due to the voices reportedly starting to strain his throat. His fellow Transformers star, Chris Collins/Latta, was also Mr Burns and other supporting roles for the first season, but he left by the end of the first series.
  • The foreign-dubbed versions are as interesting as the original English version are and we can give very interesting examples:
  • The Japanese-dubbed version have many alumni from the Mecha genre and, by some weird coincidence, from the Mazinger Z saga and related series. Even the actors who voiced one-shot characters aren't safe of this:
    • Homer is Dr. Nanbu and Hakushon Daimaoh (And not being the first time he voiced fat guys before.)
    • Marge and Selma are Houmei and Tsubasa Nishikiori.
    • Bart is Sasuke the robotic ninja and Spritle/Kurio Mifune. In the theater version of the movie, he is Yoichi Hiruma.
    • Lisa is Annamarie Bourget and Falcomon.
    • Maggie is Hisami Shishin and Suzu Fujibayashi.
    • Grandpa Simpson was Count Brocken, It's still undecided who's going to replace him in the dub.
    • Mona Simpson is Michiru Saotome.
    • Herb Powell is the Col. Roy Campbell.
    • Milhouse, Jimbo Jones, Scratchy and Dr. Frink are Kamille Bidan, Ebisu, and The Mayor. In the movie he is Elvy Hadhiyat and Akemi.
    • Krusty The Clown is Paptimus Scciroco and Juda (Also counts as both Hilarious in Hindsight and Relationship Voice Actor with Milhouse's voice actor who is his fan in this series and his worst enemy in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.)
      • Krusty is also Broly.
    • Moe & Ned Flanders are Shin Mazinger's Count Brocken (That's right, both Classical and New versions of Brocken were in the same show!) In the movie, Flanders is Gen
    • Lionel Hutz is Kouji Kabuto.
    • Chief Wiggum is Dayakka and Haohmaru.
    • Barney Gumble is Ramba Ral (And both LOVE to drought their sorrows with alcohol)
    • Reverend Lovejoy and Smithers are Quamzin The Ally Killer in the TV series. In the movie Reverend Lovejoy is voiced by Joji Nakata, who already voiced another, but evil, priest, and a hero who have to fight against one.
    • Jessica Lovejoy is Sumire Kanzaki.
    • Maude Flanders and Itchy were Lady Une. Still undecided who's going to replace her, too.
    • Rod Flanders is Cima Garahau.
    • Todd Flanders is Kayra Su.
    • Kent Brockman is Danzou Shimura
    • Hermann is Corset and Buggy the Clown
    • Dr. Marvin Monroe is the friggin' Dr. Hell!
    • Adil Hoxha (from the season 1 episode The Crepes of Wrath) is Conan Edogawa and Kati Mannequin
    • Bob (from the season 1 episode The Call of the Simpsons) is Alejandro Corner and Gourry Gabriev.
    • Collette (from the season 3 episode Flaming Moe's) is Belldandy, Aina Sahalin and Grace O'Connor.
• Old Shame: On the DVD commentary for "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", the writers said they felt really bad about the line "They put all the jerks in Tower One!" after the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center.
• The Other Darrin: From seasons 11-13, all parts originally played by Maggie Roswell were played by Marcia Mitzman Gaven, due to a pay dispute. This includes characters such as Miss Hoover, Mrs. Lovejoy, and most prominently, Maude Flanders. Additionally, Lunchlady Doris, originally played by Doris Grau, was retired for a while to pay respects to Grau, who had passed away. She finally made a speaking appearance in season 18's "The Mook, the Chef, the Hife, and Her Homer", this time played by Tress MacNeille.

Lisa: There's a AAA battery in my macaroni and cheese! Doris: It counts as a vegetable.

• • This was also lampshaded in "Homer to the Max", when Flanders appeared with a difference voice: "Plus they can replace 'em [actors] and nobody will know the diddily-ifference!"
  • The cops Eddie and Lou had switched voices in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", which technically means both characters were initially voiced by somebody else.
    • Similarly, Lenny and Carl had swapped voices in "Brush With Greatness".
  • Maggie Simpson has been "voiced" by Nancy Cartwright most of the time, but Elizabeth Taylor provided her first word of "daddy" in "Lisa's First Word".
  • Roger Meyers Jr. was voiced by Alex Rocco in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge", "The Day the Violence Died", and "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", while Hank Azaria voiced him in "The Front", "Lady Bouvier's Lover", and "Itchy & Scratchy Land".
  • Artie Ziff was voiced by Jon Lovitz in "The Way We Was", "Half-Decent Proposal", and "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", while Dan Castellaneta voiced him in "The Front".
  • Mary Bailey was originally voiced by Maggie Roswell in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", while she was voiced by Tress MacNeille in "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade".
  • Bill Clinton has been voiced by Phil Hartman, Harry Shearer, and Karl Wiedergott.
  • Lurleen Lumpkin was originally voiced by Beverly D'Angelo in "Colonel Homer" (and later reprised her role in "Papa Don't Leech"), but was voiced by Doris Grau for a brief gag in "Marge vs. The Monorail".
  • Bleeding Gums Murphy was voiced by Ron Taylor in two of his appearances, but in "Dancin' Homer", his singing voice was by Daryl Coley.
  • Mona Simpson was voiced by three women: Glenn Close (the three episodes which prominently feature her), Tress MacNeille ("D'oh-in' in the Wind") and Maggie Roswell ("Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?").
  • Sylvia Winfield, a next-door neighbor to the Simpsons, is initially voiced by Tracey Ullman and later by Maggie Roswell.
  • An odd example: Troy McClure, usually voiced by Phil Hartman, was briefly voiced by Dan Castellaneta in "Bart's Dog Gets an F" while Santa's Little Helper is "channel-surfing".
  • An example early in the series: Christopher Collins voiced Mr. Burns in "Homer's Odyssey". He was quickly replaced by Harry Shearer.
  • Russi Taylor usually voices Martin Prince, but in some early appearances, he was voiced by Jo Ann Harris.
  • In "The Tell-Tale Head", Jimbo Jones was voiced by Tress MacNeille, but in all other appearances, he was voiced by Pamela Hayden.
• The Other Marty: Christopher Collins originally voiced Moe in "Some Enchanted Evening", but his track was never actually used in the final episode; he was replaced by Hank Azaria.
• Show Accuracy Toy Accuracy: For years merchandise almost always had Bart with a blue shirt despite the fact he wears an orange one.
• Reciprocal Fiction Paradox: The Simpsons and Futurama play with this in the TV show, with Matt Groening's cameos on each being the creator of the other.
  • Also, in the Simpsons episode Mayored to the Mob, Üter wears a Futurama shirt (this was long before anyone had heard anything about Futurama in the real world.) In an episode of Futurama, Bender eats the shorts off of a Bart Simpsons doll.
  • Also, thanks in part to certain trope-naming episodes of South Park, and innumerable references to each other, South Park, Family Guy, and The Simpsons are all fictional within each other's Universes.
• Shown Their Work: In "The Spy Who Learned Me", Homer sustains a concussion on the job. Smithers states that Homer must be given time off, in compliance with contemporary research. In recent years, sports leagues have legislated whole sets of precautionary and disciplinary rules involving hits to the head.
• What Could Have Been: If you ever listen in on the DVD commentaries, you'll find out that this show is the patron saint of missed opportunities at being better than it is. Some examples:
  • The "Robot Richard Simmons" scene from "Burns' Heir" was cut because the writers and test audience thought it wasn't all that great, but apparently, it was a rave at animation conventions and guest lectures at colleges.
  • "Kamp Krusty" and "Bonfire of the Manatees" were originally supposed to be plots for The Simpsons Movie, but the writers didn't know how to make them compelling enough for 90 minutes.
  • The episode where Homer meets a big, bald mental patient who looks, acts, and is voiced by Michael Jackson (under a pseudonym due to contractual stipulations) was supposed to have a sequel where that same big, bald mental patient now thinks he's Prince and encourages everyone in town to be free and open with their sexualities. Because Prince refused to do it, that script is now the only Simpsons episode that has been written, but never produced.
  • Before his death, Phil Hartman had pitched the idea of doing a live-action movie about Troy McClure (one of the recurring characters he voiced).
  • Marge was initially planned to become The Alcoholic out of boredom during "You Only Move Twice", having nothing better to do in a house she didn't have to upkeep. This was deemed too depressing, so in the final episode, in a Development Gag she just takes occasional sips of wine while the viewer is assaulted by Scare Chords and dramatic closeups.
  • The writers originally considered having Skinner wear a toupee, but they dropped it because apparently Matt Groening didn't like those types of jokes. Despite this, one image from "The Simpson's Guide to Springfield" (specifically one relating to King Toots) did have Skinner's top hair fly off in a similar manner to a toupee when covering his ears from Willie's bagpipe playing (implied to be awful).

Tropes Named:

• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Substitute French teacher Groundskeeper Willie calls his class this on the season six episode, "Round Springfield."
• "Close Enough" Timeline: "Treehouse of Horror V."
• Commie Nazis: From a one-off joke from a McBain movie trailer.
• Couch Gag: Started the trend.
• Dean Bitterman: The Dean in one-off movie-within-the-show School of Hard Knockers.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: One of Homer's ideas for some changes for the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington remake in Beyond Blunderdome was, as Mel Gibson put it, to replace the main villain with a dog.
• Flanderization: Ned Flanders used to be only mildly religious, in that he was a typical "good American" who enjoyed going to to church on Sundays in earlier seasons; now he's a Bible-thumping Overprotective Dad. Other characters have been hit with it over the years.
  • Forgot Flanders Could Do That: In The Movie he returns to his Nice Guy roots.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Those goggles won't protect your eyes from real acid, Radioactive Man.
• Kent Brockman News
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All
• The Krusty
• Kwyjibo: Bart made up the word to cheat at Scrabble.
• Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club: Fat Tony et al.
• Mayor of a Ghost Town
• My Beloved Smother: Agnes Skinner to Principal Skinner.
• Named Like My Name: Homer Simpson.
• Non-Giving-Up-School Guy: Skinner.
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: Embiggens is one.
• The Poochie: The character that named it was actually a parody of this type of character. Now renamed to Shoo Out the New Guy.
• Retirony: On the season 12 episode, "Homer vs. Dignity" (a.k.a, the one where Homer gets raped by a panda), Chief Wiggum tells his financial advisor that he's not going to save his money for the future because, like all cops on TV shows and movies, he'll be killed in the line of duty days before he retires.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: It feels like Ned Flanders is wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all! Nothing at all!
• Suspect Is Hatless: Chief Wiggum described Snake as this on an in-show episode of COPS.
• Think of the Children: Helen Lovejoy's primary concern should be everyone else's as well.
• Think Unsexy Thoughts: Homer used this mantra whenever he was alone with Mindy (a new coworker he was infatuated with because she's basically his Distaff Counterpart, only with red hair, a slim figure, and the voice of Michelle Pfeiffer).
  • She used this as a mantra when in an elevator with Homer.
• Trash of the Titans: Title of the 200th episode and a frequent trope in the early days.
• Whale Egg: Ralph Wiggum isn't very good with biology...
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Does anybody know? The characters just won't tell us. Until it was defined to be bordering Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky. At the same time.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Marge asks this of Lindsay Naegle, who is one of four such recurring characters in the series. Naegle's answer: She's a sexual predator
• A Wizard Did It: Used by Lucy Lawless to explain the glaring continuity errors in Xena: Warrior Princess.
• You Might Remember Me From: Such trope pages as this one. Troy McClure (a washed-up B-list celebrity with an alleged sexual fetish for fish) would always introduce films, documentaries, and even two behind-the-scenes Simpsons episodes (the 138th episode spectacular and the episode featuring three pilots for spin-off shows) with this trope phrase and two fictional titles of movies/TV shows/specials, etc he's been in (such as "The Erotic Adventures of Hercules," "Zombie in the Endzone," "Mommy, What's Wrong With That Man's Face?" "2 Minus 3 Equals Negative Fun," "Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly," "Here Comes the Metric System," "Five Fabulous Weeks of The Chevy Chase Show," "Alien Autopsy," "Smoke Yourself Thin," and "Get Confident, Stupid!")
• Your Secrets Safe With Me Superman: Barney talking to Adam West (who actually played Batman).
• You Wanna Get Sued?: Bart had the "shinning" in the Halloween segment of the same name, not the "shining." Get it right, people!